I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to digital time displays which are useful for general purpose timekeeping, meaning the usual habits of individuals in watching and keeping track of the time while going about their daily activities.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Quadribalanced and Enhanced Quadribalanced digital time displays are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,497 (hereinafter ""497 patent) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,736 B1 (hereinafter ""736 B1 patent), respectively, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. The ""497 patent does not indicate what should be included in its displays during the final minute of each hour, when zero minutes and 59 to zero seconds remain until the commencement of the next hour.
The ""736 B1 patent teaches at column 6, lines 55-59 that its displays can include flashing horizontal elements during the period of the last minute before the next hour, in a manner described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,730 (hereinafter ""730 patent), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
III. Recognition of Problems in the Prior Art
The present applicant made several attempts to implement the teaching of the ""497 patent to use flashing horizontal elements: like those described in the ""730 patent, in the enhanced quadribalanced displays of the ""736 B1 patent during the final minute, while seconds were counted down from 59 to zero. These attempts were not successful. Basically, the problem was a lack of proportion and fullness in the limited area occupied by the flashing uppermost six horizontal elements of the ""736 B1 patent displays, compared to the larger area of the entire space on the left of the displayed next hour which is fully occupied in such displays by remaining minutes during the last thirty minutes before the next hour.
The flashing uppermost six horizontal elements gave the appearance and impression of being too crowded and disproportionate in their collective grouping and position, as contrasted from the larger area of the entire available space used to display remaining minutes during the preceding half hour. These problems did not become apparent until the present applicant""s attempt to implement the teachings of the ""497 and ""730 patents in the displays of the ""736 B1 patent, as explained above.
The present invention provides an effective solution to the above-described problems, with considerable unexpected additional benefits and advantages that were not foreseen before the initial concept of the invention emerged in the applicant""s thought processes. In particular, while mentally dealing with the above problems, the initial concept suddenly recognized that the 10-segmented ladder arrays, used to display remaining minutes during the second half hour of the ""736 B1 patent, at zero remaining minutes, could be transformed into two sets of three zeros each, stacked in vertical alignment one above the other, in the whole of space occupied by the previous 59 remaining minutes. Therefore, during the final minute, each of these equi-sized zeros, occupying substantially one-third of the area of that space, could be displayed in a predetermined pattern or sequence to graphically track the diminution of the last 59 seconds of the final minute. Moreover, such zeros would provide direct and explicit confirmation that all minutes of the current hour have passed and only seconds remain before the commencement of the next hour. After these breakthrough insights, the invention came into clear focus as a far superior display system and method for the final minute of the enhanced quadribalanced time displays of the ""736 B1 patent, or analogous time displays, as further discussed below.